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  Booklet Recounts Abuse by Priests

By Todd Ruger
Quad-City Times [Davenport IA]
June 4, 2005

An Iowa City-based group calling itself the Concerned Catholics of the Davenport Diocese is distributing a booklet compiling stories of men alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

The group took the booklets, which detail the response of the diocese by men who reported abuse by priests as children, to parishes across the diocese, the group said.

It also contains a writing by a Tipton, Iowa, man who says he was abused in 1949 by now-deceased priest who has not been previously named by the diocese as having an allegation of sexual abuse against him.

"We love the church and for the health of the church, but both the structures that fostered and covered this up need to be changed," booklet editor Dorothy Whiston of Iowa City said, adding that the diocese will not release the names of deceased priests who have credible claims of sexual abuse against them.

"Nobody wants to slander anybody," Whiston said, "but it's often not until a survivor sees the name in print that they realize they weren't the only one and it wasn't their fault."

Bishop William Franklin, in a press release, said he has read the booklet, titled "Toward Hope and Understanding — Stories of Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse in the Davenport Diocese."

"Although the Diocese of Davenport is not sponsoring this group, I hope that their work and of the work of other groups who support victims of clergy sexual abuse can help victims in their process of healing," Franklin said.

A copy of the booklet is available at the Concerned Catholics Web site at www.ccodd.com.

Whiston said the Concerned Catholics group has more than 100 people on its mailing list and has had about 35 to 45 members meet monthly since October.

The group hopes the booklet will educate the "people in the pews" to realize the victims are not at fault and pray for the healing of the church, she said.

"It took a national crisis to come to terms to things really has some long-term serious structural problems," she said.

"Many people still have not been met with compassionate responses," when reporting abuse, she said. "The diocese has never organized a support group for victims."

The group is also organizing a conference at Faith United Church of Christ in Iowa City for June 24 and 25 that will include a panel of men who say they were abused by priests.

At the end of the conference will be the first meeting of the southeast Iowa chapter of the Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, a national advocate group.

That group will be headed by the Rev. David Hitch of St. Mary's Parish in Tipton. His brother, Mike, has reported that he was sexually abused by James Janssen, a former priest in the Davenport Diocese.